classicism

/ˈklæsɪˌsɪzəm/

noun

1.

a style based on the study of Greek and Roman models, characterized by emotional restraint and regularity of form, associated esp with the 18th century in Europe; the antithesis of romanticism Compare neoclassicism

2.

knowledge or study of the culture of ancient Greece and Rome

3.

a Greek or Latin form or expression

an expression in a modern language, such as English, that is modelled on a Greek or Latin form

classicism definition

An approach to aesthetics that favors restraint, rationality, and the use of strict forms in literature, painting, architecture, and other arts. It flourished in ancient Greece and Rome, and throughout Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Classicists often derived their models from the ancient Greeks and Romans.